Fairfax makes cuts in marketing department
Fairfax has made a number of redundancies in its marketing department, with marketing director Chelsea Wymer, who is understood to have taken voluntary redundancy.
The publisher is understood to be making yet another round of cuts as it looks to offset declines in revenues from its ailing print products, with at least three departing from its marketing function.
Yesterday Crikey reported on a strategy called Project Sunrise aimed at giving print focussed journalists more digital training, although the website also said there were concerns it had led to an increase in clickbait headlines on the Fairfax sites.
Crikey reported: “Fairfax’s commitment to this new strategy is such that it is offering those who do not want to get with the program a way out. At the end of the training, journalists are given one-on-one interviews with management about their skills and attitudes towards the new strategy. Those who are uncomfortable, unhappy or unequipped for the new strategy will be given the option of looking at retrenchment options. Of course, an offer to discuss options is no guarantee of a redundancy payout — Fairfax management has the final say on that.”
Wymer
AdNews is reporting there have been at least three departures in the marketing team including Wymer, who stepped up to the head of marketing role last December having been national head of trade marketing there for the last four years.
The others to leave are understood to be consumer marketing director Vicki Aristidopoulos who has been with Fairfax since February 2013 and director of brand and consumer acquisition Hayley Peacock-Gower.
Both understood to have been made redundant and it is thought there could be more cuts within the department.
In August staff at the Newcastle Herald went on strike after management announced 69 job cuts there.
A Fairfax spokesperson declined to comment on the latest changes at the publisher.
It was actually project Sunrise, not project Sunshine.
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Surely an `Apprentice’ type reality show needs to be filmed at Fairfax, it so exciting to see who gets the chop each time as it slowly dies. My hot tip is next up will be some support staff, IT, finance, HR etc before the next round of journo’s.
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Hi Kate,
You’re right, updated now.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Apparently numerous staff have been told they have to reapply for their jobs. Sounds more Hunger Games than Celebrity Apprentice….
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Does project Sunrise teach them how to visit the Reddit front page and post what was popular two days ago?
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Doesn’t bode well for next year’s Spectrum Now festival
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The really weird thing here is the way they’re spending at Domain. This will all end very badly because at some point the news media operation will be dead from starvation.
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Ah, Fairfax, always sacking the wrong people.
Wish I could get one of those jobs that pays millions for losing money hand over fist while driving the share price into the dirt. But sadly, I’m not an old white man who knows sweet fuck all about the digital revolution.
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Faced will falling circulation, you won’t believe what this major publisher did next.
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Good riddance. FFX Marketing team had no clue about digital and are not revenue focused. Rather they were more focused on making up numbers and wasting money on channels that brought no positive ROI
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They originally restructured the business in September which split up what was the consumer marketing team across a range of different areas, upsetting quite a few people along the way.
For example, digital marketing was assigned to editorial, audience engagement to trade marketing, and the remainder of consumer marketing then given to the previous head of customer experience.
The now head of customers and subscriptions made the key leadership roles in marketing and product redundant, leaving people to apply for their own roles. Some applied for their own roles and were not given them, even when a suitable alternative was not available.
One was just dropped from the org chart whilst on mat leave. These last two descriptions apply to two of the names in this article.
Now the rest of the team have been asked to apply for the roles which sit under the new leadership roles which have been filled. There are fewer roles than people, of course.
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